Project status: Complete
The rule against perpetuities and the rule against excessive accumulations are two distinct but related legal rules which are used mostly in relation to trusts and wills. Both rules seek to address the broad question of the extent to which one generation should be able to dictate the future use and ownership of property, and restrict … Read more >
Project status: Complete
Our report makes a series of recommendations aimed at improving access to the public services ombudsmen, ensuring that they have the freedom to continue their valuable work and improving their independence and accountability. Foremost amongst our recommendations are: The appointment of the Parliamentary Commissioner on the nomination of an individual by Parliament. Parliament, and the … Read more >
In our consultation paper we propose the repeal of 57 obsolete Acts relating to the poor law relief arrangements that existed before the advent of the modern welfare state. Indeed most of them are relics of the parish-based system that existed before 1834. The earliest of them date back to 1697 during the reign of … Read more >
Project status: Complete
Download the report Download the report summary The problem Divorce and the dissolution of civil partnership almost always have financial consequences. Many couples resolve the financial consequences of divorce or dissolution without going to court. But where this is not possible, the courts have a very broad discretion to redistribute the parties’ property and income. … Read more >
In our consultation paper we propose the repeal of some seven obsolete statutory provisions that relate to the holding of different forms of lottery. Six of the seven proposed repeals involve whole Acts which were passed in the period 1711 to 1807. These Acts were secured so that a variety of private lotteries could be … Read more >
In our consultation we have identified some 94 obsolete Acts relating to London. These Acts reflect London’s social and economic history from Tudor times through to the early 20th century. Most of the Acts were passed to raise money to pay for particular projects such as building churches or making town improvements like street-lighting. Once … Read more >
Project status: Complete
In this project we reviewed the law on limitation periods. We recommended that the problems with the existing law should be resolved by the introduction of a single, core limitation regime, which would apply, as far as possible, to all claims for a remedy for a wrong, claims for the enforcement of a right and … Read more >
Project status: Complete
There are between 7,500 and 8,000 level crossings on the railway network in Great Britain. Every year, people are killed or seriously injured in accidents on level crossings, and level crossings can cause considerable inconvenience to drivers, pedestrians (particularly disabled users), cyclists, horse riders and others. In this project we examined the legal framework governing … Read more >
In 1989 we produced a draft Criminal Code. It was in many respects a statement of the existing law or of fairly recent proposals for reform, which were open to criticism. Accordingly, we subsequently adopted a policy of reviewing areas of criminal law so that one by one they would be modernised, where appropriate, before … Read more >
Project status: Complete
The purpose of this project was to consider how the work of a group of tribunals should be organised. In August 2001, the report of an review of tribunals chaired by Sir Andrew Leggatt was published. It proposed a unified tribunals service, divided into several “divisions”. In his report, Sir Andrew recommended that we be asked … Read more >